


My Happiness Is You

by Pearl_Jewel



Series: Your love fuels me [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Irondad, Just because Tony is 25 when Peter is born, Not Canon Compliant, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Post-Iron Man Movies, Pre-Iron Man 1, Pre-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Spiderbite, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids, infinity war fix-it, peter's childhood, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-07-25 03:24:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16189058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearl_Jewel/pseuds/Pearl_Jewel
Summary: Peter smiles, satisfied,“Well, now you definitely smell of motor oil.”“If I wasn’t driving I would throw motor oil on your shirt.”“But then you’d ruin my ironman shirt!”Tony settles for throwing his sunglasses at him instead.When Peter turns to dust in Tony's hands, Tony realises how much the boy actually means to him. A discovery leads him to want to be more to Peter. Maybe, just maybe, Tony's desire is noticed this time.





	1. All I Wanted Was To Be There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony refuses to rest until Peter is safe in his arms or they both end up dead. Not after already failing the boy.

Tony sits in his lab, watching himself reflected in the pristine window, only to shift his eyes back to the paper in front of him. It was a stupid sentiment anyway, he can’t figure what part of his idiotic brain decided it was a good idea to do this.

_Well done Stark, now you have to face the consequences._

The small prick of blood he had made on his finger continues to dribble with drops of blood, unceasing, but he can’t bring himself to move a centimetre in any direction. In all honesty, however, he doesn’t really want to. Despite the single sheet of paper staring back at him, the sheet a blinding star of white, screaming failure at him. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

A stray tear manages to raggle down his facial hair. Soon it becomes a river of silent tears.

Minutes pass, or maybe hours, time seems fleeting at this point, almost mocking him with the time he didn’t have, the time he never got to spend with him. For the umpteenth time, he stares at the overbearing sheet again. Why couldn’t it just disappear?  
Written in clear bold letters, paternity test. With _his name_ on it, right next to his own because he was just stupid and why would anyone call him a genius? He wheezed, deserving no praise because _he had failed._ Only one person in the entire world had needed his attention and he couldn’t even do that. What a failure, his father was right all this time.

_You’re too weak Tony. You’ll never get anything done. They’ll all look at you in shame._

Muffled sounds try to enter his ears from the background, but he can’t register anything. Only the silent wind from titan enters his ears, their red dust hitting his face. Dust, he thinks now, that was too much like blood. The boy didn’t bleed, but that planet had that covered already. Darkness bathed his eyes for a second as he tried to rid the image from his mind. Peter’s blood staining foreign, alien dust.

_Failure._

Something squeezes his right arm, like a clamp or the way he had squeezed _Peter_ before he dissolved before his eyes. Forcing himself to look, he sees a hand rubbing against his sleeve, small particles of dust releasing themselves from him. Even they want to get away from him, he was no good. Probably a part of Peter, his mind adds unhelpfully. Of course, Peter would want nothing to do with him, not after this. Not after he _failed._ His chest begins to constrict and he grips it in attempt to soothe it. It only seems to make it worse, reminding him of how Peter had gripped him only yesterday.

“Tony? Tony, are you okay?” It takes him a second, but he recognises Pepper’s voice. Trying his best to focus on her touch, he manages to calm his racing heart just enough that it doesn’t feel like exploding out of his chest.  
“What’s wrong?” he hears her try again, much softer this time, and all he manages to do is slide the stupid sheet in front of her. And apparently, it’s all she needs.

_Idiot. Can’t even tell your own wife what’s wrong._

She pushes his chin up and looks him in the eye. It’s such a motherly gesture that he can’t help but imagine what it would have been like if they had been the ones to raise Peter, daddy Tony and mama Pepper. But of course, fate wasn’t that kind.  
“This isn’t your fault.” and that line is enough to snap him out of his stupor.

“Yes it is Pepper, of course, it is. This kid lived his whole life without parents, thinking they were dead when his dad stood right in front of him. I’m such a failure, I didn't even know. That, right there, is why I can’t be a dad. I’d just mess up. I already have.”  
Pepper just sighs in response, a hand flying to her stomach.

* * *

Logically, he knew that only half the earth had disappeared. The ever persisting news outlets don’t fail to remind him of that fact, and at this moment Tony hates the media more than ever. Every person that could provide even a helpful word had been gathered in the stark industries conference room, and Tony knows he should try to focus but instead his brain is being soaked up by the TV playing in the background.

“Missing reports are finally being filed and authorities and trying their best to create records on who remain after the so-called “snap”. However, the police have brought to light a unique case of Peter Parker who disappeared before the events of “the snap” along with Tony Stark and Doctor Stephen Strange. If you have any information at all, please report to the closest police station.” Tony visibly flinches at Peter’s name, abruptly standing and silencing the room. He doesn’t notice the voices died away, his presence has that effect all the time. Instead, he storms towards the TV, which has decided to display Peter’s beaming face. He pulls the plug, before sitting down like he had done nothing at all. People slowly turn their gazes away, like he’s an electromagnet that had just been turned off. Really, he’s a dynamite waiting to explode. Because Thanos may have destroyed half of the universe, but he’d left almost nothing for him.

He would get Peter back, even if it was the last thing he did. _Peter Stark would have sounded better,_ his brain unhelpfully replies. In response he just sighs, trying his best to pay attention. _For Peter. For his son._

“... we need a way to equal Thanos in power.” he recognises Steve’s patriotic voice, stating the obvious as always.  
“Great observation Rogers, why don’t we just go and pluck the Infinity Stones from Thanos’ hand? I’m sure he won’t mind.” the only thing that stops Tony from bursting into laughter at this point is the mention of Thanos’ name inevitably reminding him of Peter, anchoring him down to purpose instead. But, all aside, Rhodey should roast Capsicle more often.  
Of course, Tony can’t be left with a little sunshine in his bitterness, because Ross decides it would be fun to join in too, “See, Colonel Rhodes has the right idea of the situation. Tony, what do you have to say?”

Anger surges up like a tsunami in Tony. How dare Ross file him out when all he does is sit here bickering while the rest of the world suffers the loss of loved ones just as he did. The man would never understand, not when politics and power mattered above all to him,  
“Well I think people are suffering while you all sit here bickering like fools.” to true stark fashion, he doesn’t stop his snarky reply from coming out.  
“That’s a bold accusation for a man who refuses to say anything at all.”  
“Well, Mr secretary I’ll tell you what I have to say. We don’t need all the infinity stones. We just need one. The time stone.”  
“And how do you propose we do that?”  
“Simple.” he turns abruptly to the Wakandans, a quiet signal to Ross that he’s done talking to him. Growing up with the media surrounding you did teach one things. “Wakanda has the biggest store of vibranium, right?”

* * *

In all honesty, Tony has no idea where he pulled out this plan from. It was as if Ross’ voice had flicked a switch or kindled a fire in him. Mere minutes passed before Engineer Tony, as Peter had liked to call the fast-thinking part of him, had come up with a solid plan. And even after his rush to iron out the plan, he didn’t take a second to catch his breath, instead opting to plough on into work.

Tony went through many sleepless nights, bearing the glares he received from Pepper and Rhodey like they were cotton. Weightless. And the times the lulling tide of sleep did pull him under, he mind would yank him out with a nightmare, so it didn’t matter anyway. Schematics went round between him and the Wakandans, parts were delivered to his doorstep. He sat in the dead of night. The time parents told their young children ghosts lurked around. He sat there even then, melding parts together, linking wires, writing code to link the new tech to his own suit. Often the darkness reminded him of a time a decade ago in the cave, but he forced himself to push through the anxiety and panic. _For Peter. For Humanity._  
Tony Stark was not known to be an actively grateful man. But at that moment, he’s surprisingly grateful that the Wakandan princess had the brunt of this technology figured out already. And that soon Afghanistan could be all but forgotten once more.

A full week passes before the gauntlet is ready. As soon as it is, Tony goes to crash down to sleep just once before they go to face Thanos. Just once before he gets to see Peter again. Clearly, Pepper has other plans.  
“Tony, just before you go to bed… I need to tell you something.”  
He contains a huff of impatience, “Shoot.”  
“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about this and well… I’m pregnant but…”  
“Wait. wait. You’re pregnant?” his eyes must be as wide as saucers at this point, there isn’t any containing those emotions now.  
“Yes, but that beside the point.” Tony’s mouth moves to speak again, but Pepper swings the conversation to her side with the raising of her hand, “Tony, who was Peter's mother?”

This time he huffs the breath he had held back, taking a deep breath. He had wondered too but realised it easily enough.

“It’s not what you think. When I took over stark industries, it all went smoothly, until we reached a hitch.” Pepper gazes at him warily, and he continues, the words rushing out, tinged with anger, “I was 24 at the time, our sales plummeted from my lack of inventing and weapons sales reductions. Then, S.H.I.E.L.D demanded we supply them with return payment for some of my father’s projects.”  
“So the company fell into financial loss.”  
He gives a small nod “Obadiah decided to procure an arrangement with some fancy family company to help raise our funds by paying off S.H.I.E.L.D. And that led to him forcing me to marry their girl.”  
“And you agreed?”  
“When he presented the facts and threatened my role of CEO, I didn’t have much choice. We weren’t married for long. 6 months. Enough for her family to pay off our million dollar debt to shield. She was a nice girl but she was unhappy, so I used the last of their investment to make the next big thing. I let her go afterwards.”  
“You liked her, didn’t you?”  
“It doesn’t matter. She died when Peter was a month old.”

Pepper closes her eyes, a second of silence passing between them before she manages to whisper,  
“Do whatever you need to do to get Peter to you. Our child doesn’t deserve a guilt-ridden father. I mean it, Tony. Don’t try to avoid it.”  
Immediately, he understands the meaning beneath her words, barely managing to blink the tears away.

* * *

The racoon, from the guardian’s group, helps procure them a ship that rushes them to Titan in a matter of a few hours. In most of that time, Tony takes an oath of silence, avoiding all of the Avengers. Opting only to listen to them speak.

“Once Tony manages to blast Thanos back, we only have one chance to hold him down and get the stone. Thor and I will do the manhandling, while Nat gets the stone. The rest of you will have to hold back reinforcements.”  
Tony simply blinks, his helmet engulfing his face as he secures on the iron gauntlet, the tech capable of absorbing a blast from the infinity stones and redirecting it back. He almost ignores steve’s question.  
“If this goes wrong, you die. Are you ready for that?”  
But he does answer, because someone has to know the stakes he holds with their success, “If we fail, half of the universe is gone forever. Perhaps I’ll see my son in death.” Tony immediately turns away after.

When they land, Tony stares Thanos right in the face.  
The alien has the gall to laugh, “back already Stark?”  
“You stole my son.”  
“Well then perhaps you want to join him.”  
The only response after that is a single blast of colourful energy, to which Tony raises a steady arm. The gauntlet rings with charge, successfully activating. It almost flushes a smile onto his face. Almost. Watching the streaming blast with a strange fascination, he can only hope the gauntlet is strong enough to withstand the duration of the attack. With its beauty, it’s a little upsetting when Thanos stops firing. Just a little.

His own gauntlet doesn’t glow with the same beauty. Starks don’t make beautiful things. _Only destruction_ , he thinks as he fires the charge back at the stupid, purple child napper. Perhaps Peter could change that. He could only hope.  
He drives the attack directly into Thanos’ chest, sending the alien reeling into the household behind him. Even then his rage doesn’t let him stop. Even when Thanos begins to block the attack with his own gauntlet, he doesn’t stop. Even when he can hear muffled yells behind him he doesn’t stop. He keeps going until the gauntlet runs out of charge, feeling as if hours have passed. Even then, Hulk has to drag him back to the ship, even the take off not snapping him from his daze. Then Natasha places the time stone in his vacant hand.

His armour peels away.

“Stop!” he all but yells, “they’ll reappear on Titan, won’t they?”  
“Who? Tony, who?”  
He ignores Steve, mostly out of habit at this point, “If they disappeared on Titan, it’s logic that they’ll appear there too.” his words are directed to no one in particular.  
Bruce answers, thankfully (not that he would ever admit he wanted the support),  
“yeah, that makes sense. What’s the closest land to titan?”  
“Their moon.” an image of Thanos bringing down a piece of the moon shudders across Tony’s mind, but he pushes it out.  
“Let’s land there.”

There’s a rush in him unparalleled to anything he’s experienced before. Not when he got out of the plane in Afghanistan or when he fought the mandarin. Not when he raced to track Ultron down. His feet plant firm into the dust while he stares at the stone. And he realises he doesn’t know what to do. The most important moment of his life and _Tony Stark doesn’t know what to do._ Steve’s voice echoes behind him again, “Who is this about Tony?”  
“Peter.” his voice is smaller than it's ever been. It makes him cringe.  
“And who’s he?”  
“My son.”  
Steve’s probably staring at him, but Tony doesn’t care. All he wants is Peter, safe in his arms again, babbling on about something crazy that he did in school. What he wouldn’t give up to hear his voice again.

The stone begins to glow. It’s soft, a gentle star or lamp, but it gives Tony hope. He clings onto the thought, imagining the way Peter's hands gripped him, or how they turned screws in some crazy web shooter contraption. The glow gets brighter and brighter with every thought; how he wants to see his face again, his twinkling eyes. He wants to hear his laughter brighten up the mood in his lab. And underneath that all, the most selfish wish. _He wants to be Peter’s parent, he wants to be the only dad he knows._

The light engulfs him. When he blinks past it, he’s somewhere else entirely. The floor is hard underneath his shoes, and he stands over a great yawning cliffside. The rock around him has a dark blue colour as if the night sky had been pulled down. The actual sky has taken on shades of red and purple, of stars and blood. What surprises him the most, however, are the two boys who materialised in front of him. And somehow, he thinks he knows them both.  
He looks up to see a ring of energy with every infinity stone embedded into it. Brought back to the very spot he stands in by the time stone, he presumes. It not rocket science after all. From the circle, a disembodied female voice comes, reminding him a lot of F.R.I.D.A.Y, “if you want him, you have to make a choice and a sacrifice. Choose one. Choose wisely.” He couldn’t stop himself from replying, “and who might the second boy be?”  
A single clear reply, “your unborn son.”

He almost chokes at that, staring the boy in the eyes, before staring at the cliff. With a mind of their own, his eyes act, darting to Peter. His eyes grow moist. And to true Stark fashion, both boys are smart enough to realise what’s happening.  
“Dad? You’re not gonna let me die, are you? You told me you loved me, that you didn’t hate me. You said we were going to be best buddies! I’m scared, dad.”  
Tony struggles under the weight of the words, the sudden fatherhood thrust upon him. Fate, for once, offers him an escape though. Finally, it feels bad for him.

As soon as the unborn boy (it sounds so strange, he’ll never get the gist of this magic thing) finishes speaking, Peter’s mouth begins to open, before flapping shut again. His head turns to the silent boy, the son he abandoned, expecting something similar to come out. They’re both children after all.  
Instead, Peter shocks him, almost sending him to tears,  
“It’s okay Mr Stark. I’m not worth your happiness. At least I’ll help save the world, right?” Peter tries to smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

Again, he looks at Peter, taking in his demeanour, his dirt-caked skin, the shimmering suit around him, his hands wringing together to rid his nervous energy. He sighs a breath he didn’t know he was holding. At least Peter wasn’t hurt. Physically anyway.  
His eyes flit from Peter to the boy and back again, the sharp movements causing pinpricks in his skull as gears turn in his brain.

_This child doesn’t deserve a guilt-ridden father. I mean it, Tony. Don’t try to avoid it._  
_We were going to be best buddies._  
And in a second it all snaps in place. It’s just another disappointment the length of minutes it takes him to realise. The guilt-ridden father must have been all this child got because, which good father starts to be “best buddies” years into the child’s life?  
Neither boy deserves this he decides.  
One, abandoned from birth. The other, ignored. It became a sequence, one failure led to another and ruined both their lives. And just as in mechanics, to fix the problem, to fix _his mistake_ he has to work at the source.

With a fast pace, he walks, as if he could walk fast enough that no one would see his choice. As soon as he reaches Peter, he pulls him straight to his chest, cocking his head into his shoulder to stop him from seeing what was bound to happen next. This kid had already suffered enough, nothing more would be added to his conscious if Tony could help it.  
“Why me?” he barely hears Peter’s whisper and takes a second to answer, thinking of the right words to say.  
“Because my happiness is you.”

Tony lets himself look up, seeing the unborn boy stumble back the last few steps before plummeting down the dark abyss like a bird with broken wings. Wings that Tony broke with his own hands. His head shakes to thrust the image from his mind, opting to stare at the ring of stones above him instead. Their glowing light somehow reminds him of the original arc reactor that powers Stark towers. Strange how everything related.

Soon the light becomes too bright, going from faint lights to burning stars, forcing him to shut his eyes and look away. In that split second, his surroundings change. In that split second, the moment the boy fell of the cliff is erased. In that split second, Tony’s life and memories change. In that split second the time stone takes their timeline and shatters it, leaving behind no trace of its existence. Not in hearts. Not in minds. Not nature nor technology.

His choice is embedded into time. Forever.

His eyes open to a new time, a time that seems the same to him. And the first thing his mind scrambles for is his son.

As soon as his feet hit the sand of Titan, he rushes towards him, assessing him for injuries. Satisfied there are none, he hugs the boy harder than he ever thinks he has. _Peter.  
_ _Peter Benjamin Stark._


	2. You Make My Life Brighter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's life as he knew it changed. These are just some snippets of Peter's toddler years.

**2 months:**  


The day he hears about Mary’s plane crash, Pepper rushes him out of the meeting hall, thrusting a phone onto his face even though she knows _he doesn’t like to be handed things._ She gives no explanation except 3 words,  
“It’s social services.”  
And that in itself makes no sense because why in the world would social services call _Tony Stark of all people._ Despite the bad feeling in his gut, he puts the phone to his ear and manages to speak,  
“Hello?”  
“Is this Tony stark?” a female voice replies, with more demands. This phone call is demanding enough.  
“Who’s asking?”  
“Social services of New York.”  
“And _why_ are you asking?”  
“We received an infant into our custody 2 hours ago. His mother and her spouse, Richard Parker and Mary Fitzpatrick Parker passed away in a plane crash a month ago.”  
Tony struggles to stop himself from reacting. Mary Fitzpatrick whom he had just seen less than a year ago. Gone. Her kind voice silenced just like his mother. Seconds of silence pass before the woman on the phone speaks again, “hello?”  
Tony forces himself to answer, keeping it to business, “what do you need me to do?”  
“You are stated as the baby’s father.”  
“Are you sure I am?”  
“No… we need you present to do a DNA test.”  
“I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”  
And at that moment Tony feels glad he decided to attend the board meeting in New York today.

There’s already someone waiting at the entrance when he arrives. A woman of a similar height to him in a long, loose plain navy dress. Down the middle of the dress, there are simple round buttons giving it a more official look, coupled with a grey blazer which matches the grey headscarf covering the woman’s hair, neck and chest. Despite the loose material, there isn’t a wrinkle in sight. It makes him smooth the wrinkles on his navy suit defensively. People are already staring at him, of course, but the woman shifts his attention away in an instant,  
“Good afternoon, Mr Stark. I presume you would want to know about the boy.” he nods and the woman takes it in stride, “The boy’s name is William Ethan Parker. He was originally at the residence at Richard Parker’s brother for a month after his step father’s death. After receiving word of his orphaning from a neighbour, the couple is under investigation for not declaring his case.”  
“And that’s where I come in?”  
“No. You have right above them to take the child if you wish.”  
“Just like that?”  
“As the biological father, you have rights above the state.”  
“And the couple can’t take him back right now?”  
“The investigation so far suggests they will receive a few months penalty before they can take the child back.”  
The lady leads him into a room. The first sound that hits him is the cries of a child ringing in the room. Something compels him to walk up to the crib, and he finds a red-faced child staring back at him. He knows he should probably turn away, but instead his heart drives him to pick the child up, jostling him in his arms. He expects the child to cry more. Instead, the boy shocks Tony.

He stops spewing tears.

Tony ends up staying 4 hours as they do the DNA test. In that time he only puts the boy down twice. Once, to give them his blood sample and the vessel he had made to speed up reactions. In those few minutes, the baby screams in his cot.

Later, the chair gets uncomfortable, the blue leather biting into his back, so different to the soft recliners he’s used to. So he gets up and paces, jostling the baby as he does so. He guesses it’s good for both of them, feeling the stiffness of his back melt away and watching the boy gurgle (that meant he was happy right? Well at least he wasn't crying). During this Tony notices the faint blue hue of the walls and a chill in the room causing shivers to rush up through him. It’s very unfitting considering there’s a baby who can barely thermoregulate. He really should stop spending so much time in the medical rooms he was beginning to sound like the doctors there. The stickers of random trees and fruits add nice bursts of colour though, however strange. Children probably like it or something.

The second time he puts down the boy is when the baby starts crying again. This time pacing around the room and jostling isn’t working. He puts him down, flexing his arms and washing his hands. Only a minute or two passes before he’s leaning in to pick up the boy again who’s gone from crying to full-blown screaming. In response, Tony carefully lowers his fingers to the baby’s face, expecting him to grip it. He does, but with his mouth instead of his fingers. Tony watches him suck it, realisation hitting him. Luckily, someone enters the room at this point. 

Tony doesn’t waste a second before he speaks,  
“He’s hungry.”  
The woman blinks for a second, taking in the sight of a baby gnawing _Tony Stark’s_ hand, “of course. I’ll have that dealt with.”  
“What did the test say?”  
“It was positive.” she hands him a paper, before realising his arms are too occupied and opting to hold it out in front of him instead, all while keeping enough distance between them to be comfortable, “now all that’s left is for you to decide whether you want to put him up for adoption or keep him.” her voice is gentle, making this less seem like a business ordeal that he’s so used to. Well, it’s not. Shutting his eyes, he attempts to block out his surroundings to think. He probably should have brought someone to talk some sense into him. Instead, he left Pepper and Happy to deal with the board of directors, so all he’s got now is his brain and heart to decide. 

Of course, Tony Stark is described to be a genius so the rational part of his brain is logical. This part of him knows he is in no way capable of raising a child. Not while he locks himself in the lab for hours on end and chugs alcohol like water despite knowing how it could eventually be the end of him. But as he puts the baby down, removing his finger from the infant’s mouth and turning away, the boy’s sudden screams shake something inside him. 

This is , _his son._ He couldn’t just leave him like this.

Despite everything, Tony turns back, scooping the child into his arms as if he had done it a hundred times before. Before any doubt could return, he turns to the suited woman in front of him, “I’ll take him. But can I change his name?”  
“Of course.” She smiles, somehow it looks genuine. Not the smiles made to impress him. 

Sitting down at her desk, Tony watches the scarfed woman pull out a blank piece of paper. She jots a few lines down on the paper before standing up and handing it to him,  
“The first two links are good sites for baby clothes and supplies. The last link is for a free ebook on parenting.”  
“Free?” He raises an eyebrow.  
“Yes. It’s written as a piece of charity.”  
“And are you legally required to give me all this?”  
“No, of course not.”  
“Then you’re just trying to impress me?”  
She just smiles in response, “believe it or not Mr stark, the world doesn't revolve around you. It doesn’t benefit me to impress you. I do it because my religion teaches me to do good and help others whenever I can. The same reason that man offers the book for free.”  
So maybe there were still good people in the world. Huh. He does his best to smile back this time, clutching the boy close as he walks out.

And if everyone stares at him because of the fact that he won’t let the boy go even while he signs the papers, he didn’t care.  
He can’t help but smile and clutch the child tighter as he writes down the name he had come up with for the boy. Peter, because his mother had liked that name. Benjamin, because Mary had said it would be a cool middle name. And Stark, of course, after him.  
Not even Pepper’s shocked glare could wipe the smile off his face as she saw him enter the penthouse floor with a child and a paper of a kindness wrapped up in his hands.

_Peter Benjamin Stark._

**13 months:**  


The next few months of Tony Stark’s life are crazy, trying to balance between being CEO of a multi-million dollar industry and being a father. Judging by Peter’s squeals every time he walks into the room, he guesses he’s doing alright. 

Like every other day, he hauls Peter out of their bed, rocking him back and forth before slinging him over his shoulder and grabbing the nappies from the wardrobe. Tickling Peter, taking delight in the way his eyes blink open and he squirms and giggles, he flips him onto the bed promptly changing his nappy. Tony’s proud to say he can do this now, after haggling to master the art of nappy changing a few months ago. It was difficult, but between himself and Pepper, they managed to do it. 

Today, Peter is taken out of the red-themed bedroom on Tony's shoulders. He does his best to do something different every day, making sure neither of them gets bored. Checking the time, he plops Peter into his high chair who responds by jumping up and down. The clever boy knows it’s time to eat. _Half an hour to feed him._  
Peter’s bib goes on, a can is opened and a spoon is stuck in, ready for battle. A million aeroplanes and 3 food spills later, he finally keeps the food in his stomach, smiling in content.  
“Come on now Peter,” Tony says while scooping the boy up, “we gotta go to daddy’s office, okay?” Tony starts walking to the garage, obviously not expecting an answer.  
There, Pepper stands with a bag full of Peter’s toys and clothes. He calls it ‘the baby pack’. 

They drive, the four of them; Pepper, Happy, Tony and Peter, to Stark industries main headquarters, where he goes to spend the day as he usually does on occasions he comes to the facility. Going in through the back entrance so no media reporters see Peter. Going up the private elevator with Peter and Happy while Pepper goes to sort out his meetings. Checking blueprints and filling out paperwork while Peter happily entertains himself on the carpet. And of course, his favourite part, taking a break every hour to play with Peter across the floor, letting the boy know that Tony loves him. Because Tony refuses to be Howard and refuses to let Peter even consider that fact that he matters less than the company. It was more relaxing for him too. Win-win.

Days he stays in the mansion and worked were much simpler and more entertaining for Peter as Tony takes him to play a larger variety of things in different rooms in the house. Sure sometimes Peter keeps him up at night or wakes him up early, but coffee could solve that.  
The first hitch Tony hits is when Peter started cruising, clinging to everything. It forces Tony to tidy up his workshop for 3 days straight, adding covers over dangerous items so his little baby wouldn’t hurt himself. In his office at stark industries, he places chairs around the room to stop Peter trying to cling to the door. After he had everything set up he felt proud of not only himself but of Peter managing to stand and move around on his own. 

They develop new games together, building a maze of sorts with chairs and letting one person ‘chase’ the other. More and more Tony feels reassured of his choice to keep Peter. He even manages to avoid Obadiah, who would definitely disapprove of the boy, especially letting him loiter around in his office and smuggling him into certain meetings. 

All was going well until life decided to add complications. One, Peter suddenly becomes very interested in doors when he starts walking, trying to open every door he sees. And that’s how Tony ends up running down the hallways of stark industries like a madman, all trying to chase his toddler down.  
“Peter! This isn’t funny anymore. Come out now or no chocolate cake.” Tony can hear Peter’s giggle in response. Good, so he’s not far. He starts walking to the end of the corridor as quietly as he can, as to not alert Peter of where he is. He finds him tucked away in the corner of the next corridor perpendicular to the one he’s in. He smiles when he finds the boy’s back is to him. Must be getting confused by the echoes. 

Tony quietly bends down to tickle Peter, until his eyes land on something. Well, someone. He grabs Peter as fast as he can, turning away towards his office. Peter starts struggling in his grip, not wanting to be carried. While glancing back, only to see that the person’s seen the duo and is intent on following them, Tony attempts to soothe Peter, “come on now Petey pie, it just a quick game of tag.” At that Peter relaxes, clutching his shirt tightly in his fist. 

Tony sighs as he reaches his office, closing the door behind him, only to realise he’s just trapped himself instead. When a knock sounds, Tony yells his best excuse, “sorry diaper changing going on here.”  
“Tony this isn’t funny. Open the door.”  
Tony has no intention to, but then Peter jumps out of his hands and starts running towards to the door, jumping at the handles. To spare his son from Obadiah’s gaze for even a second, Tony pushes the boy behind his leg, pulling the door open. He rushes over to lean against the wooden desk, in the centre of the room, crossing his arms, giving him some sense of nonchalance. Peter stands wedged between his leg and the desk. 

As soon as the large man enters, he feels the boy tense up against his calf, curling into it. Best make this quick, “hey Obie, what’s up?”  
Obadiah is not amused, “you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen you? A year. A full blown year.”  
“11 months actually.”  
“What are you hiding Tony?”  
“Nothing.”  
“When will you start taking things seriously? You’re CEO for heaven’s sake!” Obadiah is yelling now and Peter whimpers, rubbing his face further into Tony’s trousers. He feels the material soak up the poor boy’s tears, and in response he bends down, picking the boy up and carding his fingers through Peter's hair. Thankfully, the boy relaxes slightly and so, comforted that Peter’s better, Tony resumes the conversation,  
“Stop yelling Obie, you’re scaring Peter.”  
A beat of silence passes.  
“Who’s this, Tony?” his voice is quieter  
“Peter. My son.”  
“And who’s his mother?”  
“Mary Fitzpatrick.”  
“And why isn’t he with _her_?”  
“Simple really. She died in a plane crash.”  
“Tony you can’t just pick up a child. There are ways we have to deal with this. You’re not capable…”  
“Oh really? I’m not capable? And why not?”  
“Well for starters your a drunkard.”  
Tony flinches at that, his voice lowering, “actually I’m not. I haven’t touched alcohol in almost a year now.”  
Obadiah raises an eyebrow, “well you still haven’t the slightest clue on how to raise a child and keep your reputation in the media.”  
“Because you do?”  
“That’s the point, Tony, we can’t deal with having kids around.”  
“No. It’s _you_ who can’t deal with having kids around. I don’t care what the media says. They’re all a bunch of filthy liars.” he points a finger at the man in front of him, adjusting his grip on Peter, “and frankly, I don’t want him exposed to the media anyway. So if anyone outside this company hears about this without my consent or if you lay even a finger on Peter... I’m telling you now I’ll make sure you never have anything to do with this company again.”  
The man’s shoulders straighten and he begins to back out of the office, “you’re going to regret this Tony.”  
Tony replies with conviction, “no. I won’t”

That night Tony holds Peter closer and tells him strange childish stories. No company, multi-million dollar or otherwise was worth his son’s laugh.


	3. I Can't Imagine a Life Without You

**4 years:**  


As Peter grows, he becomes much more amusing. From warming Tony’s heart with his first word (of course it was ‘dada’) to learning the alphabet all sing-songy, Tony's life is just so much brighter with the boy around. And then someone just had to try to ruin it. 

It’s a regular weekday in the second year of school, where Tony is picking Peter up from school and Peter is babbling on about his class as they sit in the car.  
“My teacher is really nice,” he says, trying his best to slow down like Tony was trying to teach him to. The boy spoke too fast for his own good sometimes.  
“Really?” Tony chuckles in response.  
“Yes! She has a really, really nice voice. And, and she makes us play fun games anddd she is super smart.”  
“Like mom?” Tony still found it a bit strange calling Pepper ‘mom’, but he was getting used to it.  
“Yeah! Like, mom. But, she is not very tall like mom. Mom is super tall.”  
“Well, what about you. You're a tall boy.”  
“No! I’m tiny like a bug.”  
“Well, I don’t think you’re like a bug.”  
He can hear Peter humming in the back contently, but it's cut off by the ring of his phone. He waits a few seconds, luckily reaching a traffic light on red, before picking the phone and answering it.  
“Tony,”, there’s an urgency in Pepper’s voice, different to her usual tone of annoyance, “you need to get the courthouse now.”  
A pit settles in his stomach, sucking away his good mood like some black hole, “why?”  
“An officer of court sent in a summons today, in the morning. The lawyers have tried to deal with it but they’re demanding your presence here now, as stated on the document.”  
“What about Peter?”  
“That’s the thing. This is _about_ Peter.”  
“I’ll be there in ten.”

Tony hits the gas, breaking the speed limit, only careful not to go too fast to jostle Peter in the backseat. Smiling grimly when he makes it to the courthouse in under 10 minutes, he unbuckles himself before doing the same to Peter and leading him inside by the hand.

* * *

There aren’t many people waiting in the courthouse, but Tony is glad to see one of them is Happy. Immediately, he leads Peter to the man, careful to go slow enough so that the boy can keep up. It’s not too hard since the kid goes too fast for his own good anyway.  
Kneeling down, he gently grabs Peter's shoulders, “okay kiddo, so daddy’s got a bit of work in here, so could you wait with Happy outside for a while for me?”  
Peter nods vigorously, “can I have Jarvis to play with?”  
Tony smiles a bit, “sure, why not?” he hands Peter a small, square device, “that’s got him on it do you gotta keep it safe for me, okay?” finally, Tony pushes the earpiece into Peter's ear as softly as he can. The boy touches the earpiece, before pulling the hard drive to his chest, “I won’t lose it, daddy! Bye!”  
He waves Peter out as happy takes him out of the courtroom.

Tony quickly blinks the tears out of his eyes, turning to face the judge.  
“What’s the problem here, your honour?”  
The judge blinks for a second, obviously not expecting Tony to take such a direct approach, “Ben and May Parker have filed a case against you. They claim you are an unfit parent.”  
Tony opens his mouth to oppose but Pepper beats him to it, “a few minutes to debrief, your honour?” the judge nods in response, and pepper all but drags him across to the group of people standing on the left of the room. Lawyers, he assumes.

“Listen, Tony, that couple is Richard Parker’s brother and sister in law. They’re claiming that you can’t take care of Peter because you’re an alcohol addict and run a weapons company.” Pepper's voice is low and almost scrutinising,  
“Well, that’s stupid. Why can’t I…” Pepper cuts him off again,  
“Today they’re presenting their evidence against you. We come back in a day and present ours, then the verdict is passed. Just stay quiet and calm. And please tell me you cleaned your lab.”  
Tony huffs in impatience, of course, he cleaned his lab, he always cleans his lab. If he didn’t Peter would hurt himself and Tony can’t bear seeing the boy in pain. Trying his best not to walk out and whisk Peter away this moment, Tony takes a seat at the defender’s table, sparing a sidelong glance to the lawyer and couple seated on the other side. 

In a clear voice, the opposing lawyer begins, “it is a well-known fact that Tony Stark is a drunkard and has been so since his teenage years in Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And yet, in the face of the law rumours are not enough. On the screen are details of bank transfers made to alcoholic companies sourced directly from staff within Stark industries itself.”  
Well, that’s stupid, Tony can’t help but think. He hasn’t bought alcohol in over 4 years now. And how did anyone get this fake bank history anyway? With suspicion, Tony glances at the screen at the front of the room. What he sees shocks him, because the bank statement is from ten years ago, in Tony’s uni years. And as per law, at that time an adult had to share his account with him. So there was only one person who could have given in that statement. Obadiah.

Much to Tony's dismay, the lawyer continues, “as you can see, Mr Stark has spent thousands of dollars on alcohol in a year alone. That is clear signs of addiction which could expose the child to destructive behaviour at any time.” the man then goes on to describe how Tony has made many dangerous weapons in his career that could potentially pose health threats and stupid stuff like that. Tony isn’t irresponsible. If anyone knows the threats posed to his boy, it’s him. He made the tech for goodness sake, of course, he’s going to do everything to make sure Peter can’t touch it and get hurt. 

Tony’s lawyers give him two tasks when he leaves the courthouse an hour later. One, get a witness to the fact that he’d stopped drinking after he received custody of Peter. Two, get evidence of shutting down his arrangements with alcoholic suppliers. However, Tony's first priority was to spend time with Peter after leaving him alone for an hour. The boy squeals when Tony mentions playing hide and seek, leaving a smile on the elder man’s face.

* * *

“Okay Peter, I’m going to count to ten and you're going to hide in the living room, not outside okay?”  
Peter smiles in response, “okay.”  
Tony closes his eyes, beginning his count and taking pleasure in Peter’s small scrambling feet until he hears a door open. Hurrying to ten and opening his eyes, Tony tilts his head to the ceiling, “Jarvis, don’t tell me he went out,”  
“If I told you that sir, it would be a lie.” the AI dutifully replies. What was wrong with hiding in the living room? Tony groans and steps outside,  
“Okay Jar, tell me where he went.”  
“In the corridor, in the room on the right.”  
Tony strides into the bare room, doing his best not to glance at the photos which have caught dust on the wall. In the centre of the room, Peter gazes at them intently,  
“Daddy, who are those people?” he asks, pointing to a medium-sized photo in the centre.  
“Those are my mom and dad,” he replies, casting a glance at the photos.  
“Where did they go?”  
Tony closes his eyes for a second, trying to think of how to phrase this, “they went away when I was 15.”  
“Oh. Will they come back?’  
“No Peter, they can’t come back.”  
“Are you sad?”  
“I’m okay. They went away a long time ago.”  
“Are the strange people gonna make you go away too?”  
“Which strange people kiddo?”  
“The ones in the funny room today.” Tony frowns, blinking rapidly. Either this kid was really smart or scared. Tony decided to take his deduction as both, wrapping his arms around the boy, “no Peter, I’m not going anywhere.” _right now anyway._  
Peter buries his cheek into Tony's shoulder, “ I’m sorry I went out of the living room. You were sad so I wanted to make you happy. I thought it would be funny.”  
“That’s okay kiddo. I'm not mad. I love you.”  
“I love you too! You’re the best daddy ever.” Tony smiles at that, leading Peter into their bedroom, seeing as it’s close to his bedtime anyway. He helps the boy change into his pyjamas, after having chased him around the room for about 10 minutes on the basis “I don’t wanna sleep, it’s boring.” 

After tucking his son under the quilt, Tony glances at his emails, looking at the reply to the one he sent to the lawyers on getting a statement from the bank manager on the fact that he shut down any setups with alcoholic companies. Thankfully, it’s positive, along with the reassurance that Rhodey will be coming over tomorrow so that he can give a statement later. Still, Tony can’t chase away the fear of losing his boy. He opts to scoot closer, pulling Peter to his chest. He tilts his head down, taking in the feeling and smell of Peter's hair. It brings tears to his eyes that he might lose his son. This time, Tony lets the tears fall, soaking Peter’s curls. He thinks nobody notices. He doesn’t know that Peter does.

* * *

The next day, Tony drops Peter off to the front gate, when he usually just lets the boy go off by himself. Peter smiles, giving him a hug, “It’s okay daddy, don’t be sad. I’m not going anywhere either!”  
Tony does his best to muster up a smile to comfort his baby boy, “well then I’ll steal you from your teacher later today.” he ruffles Peter’s hair, making the boy giggle as he waves at Tony, going inside.

Unfortunately, Tony’s tears are all that the boy can focus on. His daddy must be crying because the bad people are being mean to him. The trail of thought causes him to mess up his drawing. Hoping to get the teacher’s special rubber, Peter raises his hand, “Ms Naeema, I wrecked my drawing.”  
The teacher smiles in response, walking over to her desk before coming over to Peter,  
“Well, then I’ll let you use the rubber I have.” she glances at Peter’s photo, “what have you drawn?”  
“It’s a picture of me fighting the bad people trying to take my daddy away. He’s super happy that I helped him!”  
The teacher begins to frown at that, “which bad people?”  
“The ones in the funny room yesterday.”  
Her frown deepens in response, “could you describe the place, Peter? Using all the special adjectives you learnt yesterday?”  
“Yes! There was a lot of browns. Brown walls, lots of brown chairs and a tall brown table at the front with a funny man with white hair sitting there. Daddy gave me Jarvis while I waited with Happy outside. He said he had some work to do.”  
“Do you remember the name of the place?”  
“Jarvis told me! C-O-U-R-T. Court!” Peter smiles at himself, he remembered such a difficult word!  
“Okay well, thank you, Peter.”  
“Will my daddy be okay?”  
“Yes, I’m sure he’ll be fine.” _hopefully this isn’t a custody case._

Naeema takes her rubber back from Peter's hand, sitting down at her desk. Glancing at the students to make sure they’re all still busy, she picks up her phone, dialling someone. After the third ring, they pick up,  
“Hi, honey, what’s wrong?”  
She huffs a breath in response, “have there been any custody cases recently?”  
“Some of our lawyers were taken for one yesterday. Why?”  
“Could you check who it involves? I’m worried it’s about one of my students.”  
“Of course, dear. But I’m sure it’s fine.”  
“Okay. thanks.” she ends the call with her husband, taking her phone off silent, just in case she gets a reply quickly. Having a lawyer for a husband was more useful than she had initially thought.

After adjusting her headscarf, Naeema moves onto releasing the preschoolers for lunchtime. She makes sure they all have some lunch and the apple pie she made before letting the teacher on duty take over. This time, instead of the staff room, she grabs a USB and heads to the principal's office. Before she reaches there, however, she gets her reply call,  
“Honey?”  
“Yes, Malik, what is it?”  
“There is a custody case going on. It involves Tony Stark. Don’t you teach his son?”  
“Yes, I do.” she frowns, “See you at the apartment later.” she ends the call, hurrying to the principal’s office, hoping he’ll agree to her demand.  
From there she rushes to the surveillance room, a slip of paper neatly folded in her hand.

* * *

Tony holds Peter extra close the day happy drives them to school. He presses a firm kiss onto his forehead, before waving him off. The boy speaks before he can leave, however, “daddy, you’ll come to pick me up right?”  
“Yeah, kiddo I will. Promise.” Peter smiles, satisfied with his answer. He hops off, but Tony doesn’t leave until he’s safe inside the building.

The drive to the courthouse is silent, but Tony can see happy constantly glancing back at him through the rearview mirror. It takes everything in him not to snap at happy. It’s not happy’s fault after all. Tony still remains silent as his lawyer steps up, presenting his side of the argument. They’ve already discussed what’s going to be shown anyway. Upon the screen goes surveillance images of Tony's lab last week, showing it’s pristine form. Next, the bank manager speaks about how Tony hasn’t transferred money to alcoholic companies in years and had shut down his accounts with them four years ago while gesturing to the forms he had filled out as evidence. Tony isn’t really paying attention during all this, thinking about how Peter is doing. It only hurts his heart more.  
Then Rhodes steps up, squeezing his arm.

“Your honour, I have known Tony for almost all his life. In that time, I have seen the sheer amount of alcohol he began to consume on a daily basis in his teenage years as a coping mechanism. So believe me when I say I cannot express the shock I felt on the day I walked into his lab to find Tony smashing bottles of alcohol into his bin.  
“He refused to stop, even as I tried to grab a bottle from him. And when I asked him why he showed no doubt in his answer. He told me that he couldn’t fail his baby boy, that he couldn’t fail Peter because of the bottles lying around his home. That wasn’t the end of Tony’s battle with his addiction. There were countless times Tony almost when through with an order for wine, and every time Peter’s laugh or cry stopped him. Tony Stark is far from perfect, but if there’s any role he can fill the responsibility of, it’s being Peter's father. I have never seen a man change so much as he has for a single human being.”

Not even 10 seconds pass before the opposing lawyer takes permission to oppose,  
“There have been plenty of cases,” he begins, “of child abuse from past drug addicts, even after giving up their drugs. It is actually believed to be a more common case with these kinds of people as they end up taking their anger out on their children. Giving up alcohol is no evidence he is responsible enough to be a father to Peter.”  
Tony sets his jaw ready to speak. But then they’re given another surprise. The doors of the courtroom slam open, and a petite woman adorned in a pink headscarf and floral skirt marches in, “sorry for the interruption, your honour. I’m here to make a statement on the custody case for Peter Stark.”  
The judge blinks, taking a minute to process what just happened, “of course,” he stutters, “take a seat on the correct side, please. You may speak next.”  
Tony turns around, watching the woman take a seat. At first, he thinks she’s some fangirl, trying to see him and anger floods him. But as he watches her gather her papers, he realises he recognises her.

Peter’s preschool teacher. What’s she doing here?

The lawyer wraps up his idea of Tony abusing Peter, which is even more stupid than Tony drinking alcohol honestly if he does say so himself. How the judge is even considering this, Tony has no idea. How much more evidence does this guy need? What proof does he want? Tony wipes his face down with his hand, as the teacher, ms Naeema he believes Peter had said, stands and walks to the witness box. 

“Your honour,” she begins, her voice loud but gentle, “I am Peter Stark’s preschool teacher, and I felt the need to describe not only the joyfulness in the child but the happiness clearly present between my student and his father.” she holds up a remote and presses a button. In response, the screen lights up with an image of Peter sitting on the carpet. From the white frame and numbers around the image, Tony guesses it’s from surveillance. The teacher speaks again, “in this surveillance video you can see how highly Peter speaks of his father.” she plays the video and Tony stares, taking in the scene of Peter describing one of their maze games to his friend, ned.  
“This is not the way children describe abusive parents. In my career, I have dealt with my fair share of abusive cases on young children and none of them ever described their parents with joy. And none of them ever greeted their parents like this.” 

The video in the screen changes to a scene of Peter running towards Tony, most likely at the end of a school day. The boy crashed into Tony’s legs and his own arm had shot out to steady him. Peter’s head tilts up in a wide smile, giggles bursting out. It brings a smile to his face that he is the reason for the boy’s happiness. Everyone is staring at the screen in awe, except the teacher, who stands with a tall back, radiating confidence. She tilts her head to the judge, “that will be all, your honour.” 

The judge smooths his robe, clearing his throat,  
“As the acting jury, I have come to a decision. Tony Stark may keep his child.”

Tony has never rushed to a school so fast in his life, grabbing Peter from school in a massive bear hug and swinging him over for ice cream. Sure the boy takes forever to pick a flavour, but Tony doesn't mind. His squeals are all worth it.


	4. You Make It Worth It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Attacking Asgardians and car malfunctions are great opportunities for father-son bonding.

**10 years:**  


“Go to your room, Peter.” Tony glances at the boy leaning out of the doorway before letting his eyes drift back to the black-haired Asgardian in front of him, “and lock the door, don’t come out unless Jarvis tells you.” with wide eyes laced with fear, Peter stares at him before carefully shutting the door. Satisfied by the sound of the click of his son’s bedroom door, Tony turns to Loki, hoping to lure him away from the stupid tower, hoping its enough to keep Peter safe.  
“So you care about that boy? We’ll just have to take him out then.” Loki raises his sceptre to the bedroom. How dare he, Tony thinks as his armour finally engulfs him. Powering his thrusters to full capacity and feeling them blaze like flame, Tony charges at Loki, a parental protectiveness fueling him. Relief floods him when Loki falls through the sky, away from the penthouse. He hovers for a moment, looking back at the shut door, then diving right after the stupid alien, or whatever he is.

Tony’s only peace of mind is the updates Jarvis relays to his suit of Peter’s status. Every time he hears Peter's name, he shoots a little harder, fighting so his baby boy could get a chance to grow up. He even sets his pride aside, working with the rest of the so-called Avengers. And he refused to stop until all the idiotic aliens were gone or he was, sincerely hoping it would be the former.

The situation gets worse when the US army fires the missile. A second’s hesitation occurs within his mind before he goes charging after it like a bullet. Trying his best to slow his breathing, he acknowledges the consequences with a stone in his heart. When the call to pepper doesn’t go through, he manages to choke out another command to Jarvis, his voice sounding like a whisper of the wind, barely audible,  
“Call Peter instead.” a part of Tony lurches at that idea, not wanting to plague Peter with the fear that this could be their last conversation. Of course, however, the call goes through,  
“Dad?” Peter's voice is small but crystal clear, and it causes a springing of tears from Tony’s own eyes,  
“Yes Peter, it’s me.”  
“This is kinda scary.” Tony huffs a breath in response, doing his best to keep the missile in line, with a grip of iron,  
“Kind of?”  
“Okay, fine, this is really scary.”  
“I know kiddo. It’ll be alright, okay? Are you okay, are there any aliens in the room?”  
“No. you’re gonna come back right?”  
“Yeah, kiddo I hope so. I gotta go, okay? I love you so so much. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, don’t forget that okay? Can you do that for me?”  
“Yes… I love you too. Please come back, or I’ll miss you too much, dad. Besides, you’ll never get to beat me in Mario Kart.” the boy laughs in the background, but its hollow. Tony ends the call abruptly, not able to bear listening to his son breaking anymore.

* * *

By some miracle, Tony survives. Honestly, it feels as good as snow in July would, at least he thinks so. He shoots up, gasping to recover the lack of air there was in that wormhole. The air rushes down his lungs, and tears spring to his eyes even as it burns his throat from the speed of his breaths. Then, as Tony reaches up to wipe the tears away, he realises he needs to get to the tower now. Of course, his thrusters do not co-operate. Looking around in panic, he decides to use his resources, pointing to the blue-clad man opposing him, “Capsicle, help me get to the tower. Now.”  
The idiot opens his mouth to argue, but Tony cuts him off, “now.”

Tony leans against the Captain, doing his best to hobble over the rubble that lays waste to the streets around them. As the tower gets closer, he pushes on despite the fire shooting up his leg like someone was holding a blowtorch to it. He bites his lip in an attempt to distract him from the pain. Doing his best to pivot forward the malfunctioning armour. The moment he reaches the tower, already tired from the journey here and ignoring the Captain’s incessant questions, Tony all but yells out,  
“Jarvis tell me the private elevator is empty.”  
“Peter has just entered the elevator and is coming down now sir. So to answer your question, that would be a no.” the AI replies quickly, and a minute or two later, in which Tony manages to reach the door of the said elevator, it dings.

“Up Peter. We need to go up,” he says quietly as his son stumbles out of the elevator. The boy stares at him for a few moments, as if trying to understand what he means, “Oh right. Your armour. Okay, umm… Jarvis, how injured is he?” the AI replies without hesitation, much to Tony's dismay. He wasn’t that hurt,

“Mr Stark appears to have a bruise on his right arm and a hairline fracture in his right tibia.”  
Peter clenches his teeth, “so broken bone in the...”  
“Right leg.”  
“Right. Okay.” The boy ducks under Tony’s right arm, supporting Tony's weight over his shoulders by hooking his arms under Tony’s. The boy does his best to drag Tony into the elevator, but only makes it a step before the man hisses in pain.

“Do you guys need help?” a voice comes from behind. Peter turns his head slightly to see Captain America, his blue suit stained in gore. For his father’s sake, Peter nods, readjusting his arms as Steve takes the brunt of Tony’s weight. When they get to the penthouse, Steve turns to Peter again, and the boy resists squirming under the super hero’s gaze. Remember what dad says, it doesn’t matter what people think as long as you’re doing the right thing.  
“Where to?” the man asks, looking around the glass coated house,  
“The lab is the best place to get the armour off. Jarvis, can you do it in the lab?”  
The AI replies positively, and the triad rushes there in response. 

Within half an hour Tony’s armour is removed, a cast around his right calf along with matching stark white bandages on his arm. Peter is sitting by his father’s side, his head against the man’s chest, “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks for about the fiftieth time.  
“Yes, Peter. I’m fine. Anyway, how was your science test yesterday?”  
“It was okay. Pretty easy.”  
“No surprise there. Speaking of science, you know I learned all of astrophysics two days ago?”  
Peter shakes his head, taking in the smell of his dad’s greasy shirt. A few tears leak out, falling against the dark material. He’s still scared, he realises suddenly aware of the shaking of his hands against the edge of the medical bed. Even after all these years of dad being Ironman, he’s scared. Clutching the bed hard to stop his hands from shaking, Peter exhales a shaky breath in an attempt to conceal a sob. It works for the most part. As his dad’s hand begins to rake through his curls more tears fall out. 

It’s pathetic, he thinks, that Ironman’s son is such a weakling. He finds he hardly cares, instead relishing the feeling of the gentle touch upon his head, hoping he’ll be able to feel it again soon. “What’s on your mind?” his dad asks, startling him  
“I don’t want you to go.”  
“I’m okay Peter. I’m not going anywhere.”  
“Not now. But you could. Anytime. Anyone could shoot down your suit and kill you.”  
“Anyone could do that even if I wasn’t Ironman. We’re all at risk all the time Peter. It takes one bullet to kill anyone one of us. The suit protects me.”  
“I guess.”  
It doesn’t change the fact that sometimes Peter sat on their bed, wishing the suit away. But being in his dad’s arms made the pain a little better. He loved the way he joked and the way he always made sure to take time to spend with Peter no matter how busy he was. The way he would carefully explain a question to him, not frustrated when he didn’t understand. The way he would always compliment Peter a job well done.  
Of course, their moment was destroyed with Captain America entering the room,  
“How are you feeling Tony?”  
His dad’s reply is sarcastic, but that’s to be expected. He does that to people who annoy him, “how do you think genius?”  
“I’m hardly a genius.”  
“Yeah, I know. I was being sarcastic.”  
“Oh, right. Who’s the boy?”  
“My son. Peter, why don’t you say hi?”  
Peter shakes his head into his father’s shirt. He hears the man sigh in response, rubbing Peter's shoulder, “come on kiddo, it’s okay.”  
“No, it's not.” Peter's voice is quiet, like a scuttling mouse. Good. Captain America doesn’t need to hear this.  
“Are you mad at me, kiddo?”  
“No.”  
“So you’re mad at him?”  
He nods, “what type of team leader lets you carry an entire missile yourself?”  
“Hey, hey who said he was the team leader? I’m hurt.”  
“It doesn’t matter if he is! He could have…”  
Steve seems to decide to speak up at this moment, “how was I supposed to deal with a nuclear missile?”  
Peter yells louder than Tony's ever heard, “if a normal human being can do it then why can’t you?! You have super strength!” he’s standing at this point and Tony tugs on his sleeve pivoting him down, back onto the man’s chest, stroking his hair again,  
“Shush Peter, it’s okay. I just wanna protect you.”

Tony lets the boy cry out, not caring about the dampness on his shirt. They go go-karting at some fancy place afterwards, and perhaps Tony went just a little bit slower to help his boy feel better. The rush of wind was all the same anyway.  
And if Tony started denying a few of his Avengers meets, (just a few. Not like a calculated 50%, with the times he was gone, he would make sure Peter would be busy anyway) there was no reason for that. 

**14 years:**  


They were returning from some business arrangements in New Jersey when it happened. He should have expected it really, after the strange revving of the engine when they left the building. Still, Tony is shocked as the car abruptly begins to stop in the middle of the freeway on the way back to new york. To make matters worse, rain patters down in a harsh, mechanical way, so that moments after Tony steps out he’s virtually drenched. Sucking it up since he doesn’t have an Ironman suit for some stupid reason (why would he think an innocent trip to new jersey wouldn’t warrant the need for a suit?), Tony steps out opening the hood of the car. The smell that hits him is horrible, the acrid smell of burning and oil mixed together. Great, so now the car’s overheated.

“What’s wrong?” to Tony's dismay, Peter’s followed him out of the car. Well, there’s no stopping the boy now.  
“It’s overheated,” he states matter of factly.  
“I told you that you made the engine run to fast… oh my gosh, what is that smell?”  
“It’s because of the oil. It can’t cool the engine.”  
“Because the engine overheated. I wonder why.”  
“Are you insulting me?”  
“No dad, I’m just saying you made a mistake in your calculations and correcting you. You know like a good son.”  
“Well, why don’t you be an even better son and get me my toolkit from the boot. We’re not too far out of new york right?”  
Peter walks around the side of the car, while Tony leans into the hood, checking the wires around the engine gears. Luckily the culprit is sitting right on top of the device, a wire smoking upon the metal, part of it snapped clean. That idiotic part is sitting melted on the case of the engine. Stupid wire.

Tony watches people stream by their car, swerving away. He grabs the toolkit from Peter as the kid approaches,  
“Well let’s hope I have a wire in there.” he scours through the box for a good minute or two, grunting as he pushes all the actual tools out of the way. He really should clean this up, “looks like it’s not our lucky day.”  
“Seriously? Where’d all the wires go?” Peter looks through the box too, coming up empty.  
“Don’t look at me, I didn’t eat them.”  
“Well, how are we going to get home?”  
“I could try to use the wiper’s wire instead.” Peter nods, visibly shivering in the rain. They’re both completely soaked no, not a dry patch of skin on their body. It’s worse since the mud from the side of the road has stuck to the bottom of their trousers. Disgusting really.

As Tony begins working, Peter speaks up again,  
“Why don’t people bother stopping?” the question catches Tony off-guard, and he has to think of a satisfying answer for the teen. He’s shivering too much at this point so it’s harder than it sounds, “I guess people just don’t bother to care.”  
“We’re still an hour out of new york.”  
“And how would you know that?”  
“Because we’ve only been driving for an hour and it takes two hours to reach the city.”   
“Well let’s get this wired so we can go home. Could you take the key out of the engine please kiddo?” as Peter complies, Tony starts to dismantle the wires connected to the wipers on the windshield, wiping away the clear droplets glistening against them. Once Peter gets out, he shrugs his jacket off, slinging it over Peter's shoulders.

Ten minutes later, Tony and Peter are sitting inside the silver car, lounging on its leather seats. At least they’re comfortable, so it’s not too difficult to relax into them. Turns out the wire didn’t work, being too thin to hold the threshold of the engine’s current, especially with the upgrade. Luck not being on their side obviously, they had no cell reception so Tony couldn’t call a ride or a suit. So they were stranded until someone came looking for them. Tony stares out at the scene beside the road, watching the trees lining the road sway in the wind, some of their leaves swept away with the wind. Too bad they couldn’t move like that. The white streetlight above them offers a good view of the road around them, the reflectors on the road glistening as a handful of cars whizz by. The rain is still unceasing, slamming itself against their windshield. 

Tony rubs his arms in an attempt to soothe the chill raking up them. The heater wasn’t working either, being linked to the engine. The only comfort was the dry change of clothes they had somehow managed to change into, both glad their trip to new jersey had been overnight, warranting a need for more than one set of clothes.  
“Want to play orange elephants?” he asks Peter, hoping to distract the boy.  
“No.”  
“Aww, come on Pete, why not?”  
“Okay, fine. Orange.”  
“Elephants”  
“Snake.”  
“Eel.”  
“Law.”  
“Wide.”  
They continue on for about five minutes before they get bored. Tony hands Peter a bar of chocolate, hoping the extra sugar might warm him up a bit.  
“You know the ‘never leave home without a suit’ is starting to sound good,” Peter says in between bites.  
“But then how would we have a father-son camping trip?”  
“Nobody camps in cars dad.”  
“Well I’m not called nobody, hence I do.”  
Peter rolls his eyes at the joke, but Tony sees the small smile on his face. No matter how much he pretended, Tony knew for a fact the boy loved his jokes. Peter curls into the blazer Tony had given him, trying to pull it over more parts of his body. It pains Tony to see Peter shivering like this and not being able to do anything. When he sees the boy glance out of the windshield, he leans over, carding his fingers through Peter’s damp hair. Hoping the familiar movement would comfort him a little bit. To true fatherly fashion, he’s right, the familiar touch being just what Peter needs to relax a bit. In response, Tony smiles, happy he’s able to do something to ae their idiotic situation a little better.

A silence passes between them, something comfortable. They take time to soak in the other’s presence because this situation would be so much worse alone. After a while, Peter huffs,  
“I’m not going to get round to the physics presentation I have to do.”  
Tony chuckles in response. Funny how the kid still cares about his education. Reminds him of his curiosity with everything in their textbooks when he was younger. Ruffling the boy’s hair and wiping off the gathered drops of water on his hand, Tony speaks,  
“You’ll be fine. Just talk about how the suit thrusters use momentum or something like that.”  
“Yeah! _How Ironman’s thrusters utilise momentum or the reason why Tony Stark smells of motor oil._ ” Peter starts laughing, and Tony feigns hurt, just to keep the humour going,  
“Hey! I shower you know!”  
“Okay fine. You smell of coffee, motor oil and cologne all at once.”  
“Much better.” he smiles, rubbing Peter’s arm as a comfort.

Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of honking behind them. Peter’s jaw drops as someone turns from the next lane to stop behind them. His eyes go wide as a man steps out from the car. Tony has to push his jaw shut as the man comes up to the window. He brings the window down slightly so he can hear the guy,  
“Are you two okay? How come you’re stopped on the road?”  
Tony takes in a breath before he replies, displaying the confident exterior that he uses with other people, “the car broke down. And the cell reception’s down in this area too.”  
“Right. Well, I’m a mechanic, and I have some spare parts in my trunk if that could help.”  
Tony doesn’t hesitate, “do you have wires?”  
“Yes, I believe I do. I’ll get the kit.”

He looks to Peter, telling him to stay inside the car. The kid had suffered enough cold anyway. It didn’t stop him from looking at the other car through the rear windshield. Tony glances back too, noticing another person sitting in the passenger seat. He makes them out to be a woman, a blue scarf wrapped around her head. It makes Tony take more note of the man’s beard as he returns with a toolkit.  
Setting down his own toolkit on the floor, Tony opens the car hood. The man comes up to it, glancing down before looking up at him, hand outstretched. He blinks a few times, obviously realising who he’s standing in front of, but his hand doesn’t move. Tony relents, deciding a handshake couldn't hurt, “we need a new wire on the top, but a thicker one.”  
“Well, I usually solve that problem using a group of wires and a pipe.” they start working, an uncomfortable silence passing over them, but Tony still doesn’t know what to say. 

The procedure is short. The man and he just connect a bunch of five or six wires to the original engine circuit, cutting the burnt one out. Each of them takes turns between holding up the umbrella to stop the rain from soaking them and connecting each individual wire correctly, so the electricity doesn’t flow into through the engine casing and cause worse than a melted wire. It takes less than half an hour, with the man giving him some more wires along with his umbrella afterwards,  
“Just in case your superpowered motor shuts down again.”  
“I can’t accept this.” Tony does his best to refuse, but the man insists,  
“Consider it a friendly gift from me.”  
“You’re a mechanic right? Let me pay you, at least. From one mechanic to another.”  
“That’s all right Mr Stark, I get paid plenty as it is. It was enough of a treat for me to see your unique modified engine.”  
He stays to watch them drive away, making sure the car works, before returning to his own journey.

Immediately, Peter turns the heater to full, shifting towards it,  
“How come it was that guy, out of all the people that passed us, was the one to stop.”  
Tony doesn’t have to think of what to say, the response rushes out like air,  
“Simple, his religion teaches him to do good whenever he can. He’s just one of the many who actually adheres to that.”  
Peter smiles, satisfied,  
“Well, now you definitely smell of motor oil.”  
“If I wasn’t driving I would throw motor oil on your shirt.”  
“But then you’d ruin my ironman shirt!”

Tony settles for throwing his sunglasses at him instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And FINISHED!  
> This is my first fanfiction in this fandom, so I hope I wrote the characters well enough and that you guys liked it.  
> Comments and advice welcome. I'd love to hear what you think about it.


End file.
